HPV Country Profile

319

cases in 2018

127

deaths in 2018

The HPV vaccine is currently included in Libya’s national immunization program.

Description

HPV

General Information

Human Papillomavirus

Burden of HPV infection

In Libya, about 2.7% of women in the general population are estimated to have HPV type 16 or 18 at a given time, which causes approximately 78.9% of invasive cervical cancers in the country.1

Burden of cervical cancer

Cervical cancer, caused by HPV, is the fourth leading cause of cancer deaths in women in Libya, causing at least 127 deaths annually among the population of 2.3 million women aged 15 years and older who are at risk for the disease.1,2 Between 2012 and 2018, the number of deaths every year due to cervical cancer increased by 33% (95 in 2012 to 127 in 2018), and if decisive action is not taken at the national level, annual deaths due to the disease will increase again by 144% by 2040, reaching 311 deaths per year.3 In Libya, at least 319 women are newly diagnosed with cervical cancer each year.

11.5 per 100,000 women in Libya contract cervical cancer annually and 4.9 per 100,000 Libyan women die due to the disease each year. Among countries in the MENA region (as defined by UNAIDS), Libya’s death and incidence rates due to cervical cancer are relatively high. For example, Somalia and Morocco have the highest incidence and mortality rates, with 24.0 and 17.2 women per 100,000 being newly diagnosed with cervical cancer annually and at least 21.9 and 12.6 women per 100,000 dying due to cervical cancer per year, respectively. Whereas Iran, Iraq and Yemen have the lowest (around 2 per 100,000 women are diagnosed per year and about 1 per 100,000 die because of cervical cancer annually).2